The “Pacific Design” library contains Acustica Audio Nebula preamp/console style gain stage coloration programs based on the A Designs Pacifica stereo preamp. Measurement data was acquired via Prism Orpheus conversion, Vovox cables, Avedis Audio adapters, Rothwell attenuators, and the Creative Audio Labs MW1 Studio Tool.
THE-D is based on a stereo opto compressor (some call it “Edward”), made famous as it was used for one of the busses by an engineer named Michael, who mixed a lot of famous records. In his multi-buss system, the fourth bus “D” employed this compressor. This compressor is quite rare and not known by many. When I found it in a studio in Berlin, I asked its owner if he would be interested in making a plug-in out of it. He allowed me to capture it and THE-D was born. THE-D features a Preamp and a Compressor program. Our libraries require Nebula3, N4, or N4.5. They do not work with N4 Player or with non-commercial versions of the software.
Quantam is based on a famous ADDA converter made by a Wisconsin-based company, led by one of the best engineers in the audio industry, today. It features three modules: Electrode, Arc, and Tape. Quantam is supposed to be subtle and oftentimes even barely audible, but you can certainly feel its effect. It makes the music feel more effortless, easier to listen to, organic, and sometimes often ‘expensive’ in its flow. Electrode features 2nd- and 3rd-order harmonics focused on giving a certain amount of mass and density to your material. Arc is aimed at enhancing the higher registry and the energy of the highest details in the spectrum. Tape is capable of making music more organic, cohesive, effortless, and smooth in flow. Quantam does not contain any AD or DA conversion in its sound, just the processing behavior.
M-Phasis represents the end of a long-term projects (stalled by recent global events) in which I wanted to capture the bias and calibration circuits of my beloved “80” Swiss tape machine (which followed me over 2 moves), into a plug-in. The idea behind it is to have a clean, non-colored device that adds the exact calibration curves for the recording and playback heads, separately. In the recording head, the bias and HF dials are reproduced, and in the playback head, the re-balancing of LF and HF is available, as done on the real tape deck, in the original dials. One can use M-Phasis by itself or in conjunction with the many tape plug-ins available on the market. More often than not, a specific tape machine (especially Nebula programs) and its emulation sound fantastic but they are not exactly calibrated to our mix.
Mindscape features a combination of effects, divided into three modules: Bass, Depth, and Detail. Each module captures specific digital hardware devices (sometimes used together, in series) used by one of my favorite composers for soundtracks in video games and TV series that I had the pleasure to meet and learn from, in Berlin. He has been using these combinations of hardware units in his latest work and I liked how they worked on any audio material. He eventually accepted my proposal of turning them into plug-ins in exchange for being able to use them himself. After some months of work and booked sessions, Mindscape was born.
Anvil re-creates the elusive and legendary ‘sound’ (which you’ll agree with me is quite a stretch) of a famous AD unit with its ‘golden’ looks.
Based on an emulation of those classic Vari-Mu tube-compressors/limiters (Al*ec436/R*124) in 500 series format. It provides smooth, vintage sounds with soft knee compression.
